Giving Compass' Take:

• RAND Corporation reports that emerging technologies present a wealth of possibilities - and new challenges - for the criminal justice system.

• How can policy be built to protect citizens while facilitating the use of emerging technologies for criminal justice? How can private philanthropy play a role in developing and using technology to benefit society? 

• Learn how Florida is using data to change its criminal justice system.

A Lack of Business Cases and Processes Hampers Agencies’ Use of New Information Technologies: The experts emphasized that the lack of clear business cases and the lack of implementation business processes impede investing in and taking advantage of emerging information technologies. They also cited the importance of identifying stakeholders’ needs and getting their buy-in when developing business cases and implementing new technologies.

Big Data and Analytics Provide Opportunities and Challenges: Data and analytics are already playing a role in predictive policing, as well as in risk-based bail setting and sentencing. Yet potential users lack awareness of existing training opportunities, references, and other resources on criminal justice applications, especially those related to cybersecurity.

Ensuring Security and Privacy and Protecting Civil Rights Present Additional Challenges: Despite increasing pressure to employ cybersecurity and protect the public’s privacy and civil rights when using the new big data, analytics, and surveillance technologies, guidelines remain inconsistent, legal precedent is often lacking (resulting in security and privacy concerns), and the public’s expectations, shaped by television shows and advertising, often fail to be met.

Getting to True Community-Wide Integration of Justice: To realize the true benefits of emerging technologies, agencies must integrate information on a national scale, and managing growing floods of digital evidence is a key part of this imperative and a rapidly emerging trend. However, small, resource-poor agencies lack the needed capabilities.

Improving Safety and Community Relations: Agencies face conflicting pressures to minimize use of force while cracking down on violence and terrorism. Missteps can quickly affect police-community relations and alienate groups of people from each other.

New Technologies and New Challenges: Implementing new technologies can have both unintended consequences and major, sometimes unanticipated, benefits.